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Modest Proposal

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Modest Proposal
A Modest Proposal

Jonathan Swift uses animal imagery and economic solutions to help articulate his proposal. Examine the use of animal imagery and mathematics / logic in the essay.

Animal imagery- 1 compares children that have been sold to cattle, swine, and sheep. (They are allowed to breed)

Math- 2 throughout the paper there are numbers/ calculations. (Number of people in country, number of poor couples, number of children born) Author does lots of calculations.

Economics- 3 paper only applies to poor- economic inequality

Thesis: In “a Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, he uses animal imagery, mathematic calculations and economic inequality to propose a solution for Ireland.

Topic 1: In a Modest Proposal swift uses animal imagery to compare the conditions of the poor in Ireland to livestock.

“Twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one fourth part be males, which is more that we allow to black cattle, sheep and swine” (11)

Topic 2: Throughout the text, Swift uses lots of calculations to prove his points.

Swift uses math and scientific advancements to calculate the number of babies in Ireland available to be sold.

Swift uses mathematical calculations again to calculate the number of poor family’s mothers to be used for “child breeding’ and expresses boys and girls in a 4:1 ratio.

Topic 3: In a Modest proposal swift uses economic inequality to propose a solution for Ireland.

In a modest proposal Swift refers to the destitute state of Ireland at the time and poses a solution that will allow the babies in poor families to be “beneficiary to the public”.

Swift commonly refers to the high British aristocracy and satirizes the wealthy british view of the irish people, causing Ireland to be so poor and stripped of economical

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